Bar Made out of Pallets Cost Me $7 to Build!!

Hi Friends! I’m really excited about this bar made of pallets that I just built! About a month ago my hubby told me new needed more room outside next to his BBQ to put things on. Since he’s an amazing BBQer and he uses it a lot I decided to make him something for his birthday. This is my first big DIY furniture project from scratch and it amazed me how easy it was! I am hooked! The most amazing part is that this only cost me $7!! Say what??? Yes, I only had to buy 2 bottles of spray paint and everything else I already had or was able to get for free.

Isn’t it fun? I kept seeing some Pinterest posts on cool pallet wood bars and so I decided to take the plunge and do it. I did this whole thing by myself, so if a retired 41 year old female optometrist with three kids can do it, so can you!

How To Make a Bar out of Pallets

So, let’s get started with what you need. The most important is the two pallet wood boards. I went to my friendly Lowe’s and asked and they gave me three for free! They don’t give you the really nice ones since they send those back but my local one said if they have extra ones they are happy to help a DIYer! Here’s what my bar started out looking like:

First thing I did was sand them down. I used my power sander and sanded with 80 grit, then 120 grit, and finally 220 grit on the one that I was going to use for the front side. Since the back side was not really going to be seen I only sanded it with 120.

After I wiped the dust off I stained the boards on the front pallet. I wanted to add a painted saying so I wanted the words to be a little darker so I stained with Minwax Dark Walnut. Just wipe on the stain with a foam brush and then wipe off extra with cotton cloth.

I designed my saying in Cricut Design Space and then cut out the lettering with my Cricut Explore One Cutting Machine on vinyl. It doesn’t matter what color since it will get peeled off. This is what it looked like after I weeded it.

I cut it in strips and pressed down my favorite Transfer Paper Tape on it and then lined it up on one of the dry boards. Put a piece of blue painters tape on the top to keep it in place and then peel off back of transfer paper. Click here for my tutorial on applying vinyl with the hinge method.

Press the vinyl down well and peel the transfer paper up. This is what it looks like after:

Now on to painting! I used Rust-Oleum Spray Paint Satin Oregano. If you have a Walmart, it’s pretty cheap there. I painted the front with two coats and the back with one. I didn’t paint the back of the front pallet since it wouldn’t be seen. I wanted it to have a rustic look so I let some of the wood show through.

While the boards were drying I cut a fence board into 12 inch pieces with a jigsaw. I originally cut 6, but only ended up using 4. I had some old fence boards from a neighbors junk pile so always nice to find a project to use them!

After the pallets were dry I laid them on their sides and attached all the 12 inch boards to one of the pallets first on the inside edge. I put two on each side and screwed the boards in.

Then I flipped the pallet over and screwed the other two boards in behind the same pallet plank board. It looked like this with the 4 boards screwed it.

Then I put the two pallets together and secured the boards to the second pallet with a C clamp.

I drilled two starter holes on the outside with a Countersink Wood Drill Bit and then screwed the boards together. Repeat for all 4 boards so two pallets are fully attached.

For the top, I originally thought of putting on a board and then adding vinyl tiles on top since I had some left from my bathroom makeover . I might still do this in future of wood top gets ruined.

However, I looked around at what random wood pieces I had in my garage and found these wood shelves or leaves from a table ( don’t know which!). I thought they would work great for a table top.

So first I put some wood glue down the middle and then attached a couple brackets to the under side.

I flipped the pallets over and centered it on top of the shelves. I used 6 corner brackets to secure the top to the pallets. I had a package of these but you can get them at your local hardware store.

That was it! I had a few Cast Iron Bottle Opener left from a project I had done earlier so I screwed one on the side. I was so happy with how it turned out and my hubby was very surprised and happy with it especially since it only cost $7 to make! I found everything in my garage besides the paint, so if you have some you might be able to do this for nothing!!

It adds some fun and personality to our back yard!! What sayings would you put on it??

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

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Comments

Amy this is such a great idea! I love that it is skinny so can fit in a small space and of course how cheap you were able to make it for 😉 Such a cool piece. Thanks so much for linking it up to our Inspiration Galore Project Party last week! You are one of my Features tomorrow over at http://www.recreateddesigns.com. Hugs, Lisa